Borowiecki ‘thankful’ to avoid COVID -19
Mark Borowiecki is self- isolating at his home near Almonte, spending time with his wife Tara and newborn son Miles. The biggest concern for the Ottawa Senators’ alternate captain isn’t when or even if he’ll return to the Canadian Tire Centre.
With Miles being only eight weeks old and seven people in the Senators’ travelling party having come down with COVID-19, Borowiecki noted in a video conference with reporters he’s relieved he wasn’t on a March 6-12 road trip through California. The Ottawa defenceman was sidelined with an ankle injury when the NHL went on pause on March 12.
“It’s a little serendipity for sure,” Borowiecki said from his home. “You’re bummed about being injured, but looking back in hindsight I’m very thankful and fortunate. At that given time, it seemed like L. A. and California was the epicentre for things in North America. I had that in the back of my mind, actually not being on the trip, and then coming back having a number of the guys be exposed and fall ill.
“I was very, very thankful to be here at home. My No. 1 priority in my life is the health and well-being of Tara and Miles and that trumps everything for me.”
Borowiecki was concerned for the five teammates, staff member and TSN 1200 broadcaster Gord Wilson, who were all stricken by the coronavirus after being aboard the Senators’ Air Canada Jetz charter.
“What a strange situation. It’s nothing new to hear that, but it’s just something I never thought I’d have to think about or worry about,” said Borowiecki.
“Tara and I have had this discussion numerous times to try to digest everything and make sense of it. It’s nothing in your wildest imagination you would imagine happening.
“Luckily, I’m in a field and profession where it’s a lot of young, healthy men who are kind of in peak physical condition and it seems like that’s not the most at- risk group but, again, there’s more news and information out there that young people are getting sick so, at the time, I wasn’t as concerned knowing these guys are in great shape but it’s still alarming.
“This situation, this virus, it’s all so new and there’s not a lot is known about it. When it’s people you care about like family, and they get sick with anything, you’re going to be concerned so thankfully it seems like everybody’s on the mend, if not fully healthy, so thank God for that.”
All he wants is for everybody to stay safe and healthy.
Hockey has taken a back seat as the threat of the novel coronavirus pandemic has spread throughout the world.
Borowiecki, 30, an Ottawa native, is just hopeful everybody is doing their part to help stop the spread.
“The message has to be consistent and clear: We all have to make sacrifices here,” Borowiecki said. “It’s our civic responsibility and civic duty to make sure we’re looking out, especially for the most vulnerable members of our community, the people who are immunosuppressed, the elderly, people who are very susceptible to this virus.
“At the end of the day, for a lot of us, we’re very fortunate and it’s not a hard sacrifice. We stay inside, we’re responsible, we’re empathetic and we’re compassionate and understand that there’s people out there who are depending on us being safe and responsible and self-isolating. Let’s all band here together, let’s suck it up a bit and do what’s best for our community.”
While Borowiecki doesn’t have family working in the health field, a friend from his days at Clarkson University is at a hospital in Philadelphia.
“We do have friends who are nurses and I have a very close friend of mine, one of my roommates from Clarkson, is doing residency in Philadelphia as a doctor,” Borowiecki said. “He sent me a picture the other day with his protective equipment and it was strange to see.
“That made it home even more for me that these people are exposing themselves, and in turn, potentially exposing people they love in the name of the greater good and helping people, those people who need that medical help. It really is amazing to see. They deserve all our support, thoughts and love. It’s perspective for someone like me.
“I think a back- to- back is hard by playing two games in a row. There’s people pulling long hours at a hospital exposing themselves to something that we don’t know a lot about. These are the people who are the true warriors and actually making the sacrifice by working hard.”
This has been a different few months for Borowiecki. There was no shortage of talk about his future with the Senators at the NHL trade deadline, but he stayed put. His wife gave birth not long before that and Borowiecki later suffered an ankle injury.
“Trying to step up and have some perspective has helped me mature and definitely view things differently,” Borowiecki said. “It has been a very eventful season for me — good and bad. It’s taught me patience, belief in myself and the importance of family. Becoming a father has really changed my priorities and perspectives.”